Waubonsie Valley advances to title match
MacKenzie Fuller scored in the first half and Kristen Dodson added an insurance goal in the second half to lead Waubonsie Valley to a 2-0 victory over Barrington during Friday's Naperville Invitational semifinal in Naperville.
The Warriors, who have won eight straight, advance to face New Trier (20-0) in Saturday's championship at noon at Naperville Central. The Trevians survived Neuqua Valley 1-0 in double overtime. The Wildcats were playing without most of their top players due to prom.
"I'm excited," Dodson said. "We haven't played New Trier since freshman year so this will be interesting. I just remember them being big, fast and strong and they're still big, fast and strong."
Waubonsie Valley (12-1-3) played Barrington to a scoreless draw on April 12, but the Warriors made sure that wouldn't happen when Fuller connected from a little more than 20 yards away with 15:26 left in the first half.
Fuller played a ball from Maggie Roe and took her attempt quickly, realizing her window was starting to close.
"We had a couple more opportunities before this one and they were on top of us quickly," she said. "I knew that whenever I could get a few yards of space I had to take the shot, and with the conditions, you never know what can happen."
Barrington (11-2-2) wasn't going to make any excuses, but the Fillies appeared slower than the Warriors. They had battled Loyola Academy during Thursday's quarterfinals and the match went into overtimes before ultimately being decided in a shootout.
"We weren't as quick as them to the ball and they just looked like they had more energy in the first half," Fillies coach Ryan Stengren said. "They beat us to every single ball in the first half, but I'll cut them some slack because of what they did yesterday."
The Fillies created some scoring chances in the second half, including a few set pieces, but any thoughts of netting the equalizer ended when Dodson fired a laser with 13:47 remaining.
"I usually don't get those kinds of shots," she said. "I just wanted to shoot it low and I just shot it hard into the corner."
Dodson's score all but ended Barrington's hopes for a rally.
"Once we got MacKenzie's goal the momentum shifted and I felt like we went harder to the ball," Dodson said. "We put on more pressure once we got the second goal and just wanted to get the third. We had more opportunities but just couldn't put another one away."
Emma Rigby recorded the shutout for the Warriors. She's only surrendered 3 goals all spring.
Despite many different names and faces on the field, Neuqua Valley held its own against New Trier in the first semifinal. The Wildcats started six freshmen but finally succumbed in double overtime when Maddie Mulford scored her 19th goal of the season.